Dr. Zheng is an Assistant Professor of Chemistry at Rice University. He is a recipient of the 2011 Air Force Young Investigator Award by the USA Air Force Office of Scientific Research. He also received the Norman Hackerman Welch Young Investigator Award in the year of 2008 when he started his independent research at Rice University.

Dr. Zheng worked as a Postdoctoral Fellow in the same lab at Stanford University for one year after receiving his Ph.D. in physical chemistry in 2007. He received master's degrees in polymer physics and polymer chemistry from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Peking University, respectively. He also earned a bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from Peking University.